Dr. Kenneth Ramos of the University of Louisville came to campus Tuesday to educate students on his research about genetic reprogramming.

His “Genome Plasticity: a Story on Lines and Genetic Reprogramming” presentation focused on the technical, medical side of his biological research.

Ramos also met with students before his presentation for an extended lunch to talk about his research and answer any questions the students had.

He began by linking the human genome, or set of genetic material, to plasticity because it is not static.

“We have regulations about code and if you get a hold of plasticity, you can hope to make a difference in the way we manage human disease and the way we change the trajectory of disease,” he said.

Ramos introduced the group to the biological concept of LINEs, which stands for long, interspersed, nuclear elements.

“They’re essentially the ‘junk’ of DNA,” he said.

He stressed the importance of the ENCODE Project, which is the encyclopedia of DNA elements.

“The ENCODE is essentially the post completion of human genome sequencing,” he said. “The realization came that having the code and the alphabet of the human genome was just the beginning of the trip.”

Ramos said the code has helped his research in genetics and reprogramming.

“The ENCODE was basically to assign meaning and functionality to the human genome code, which had just been revealed in the early 2000s,” he said.

The biggest surprise that was realized through the code was that humans are not superior to other species genetically, Ramos said.

“Not because we have more genes or make more proteins, but because the ways that we regulate genetic programming,” he said. “Out of that exercise, we came to realize that we’re not that much different from chimpanzees or worms, even.”

Ramos said technology empowered his research team to make a number of discoveries about “junk” DNA, or DNA that did not appear to have any recognizable function.

“It’s really not junk anymore,” he said. “Many of the sequences carry functions of the biology itself.”

Ramos covered the technical and architectural aspects of the project and detailed all the processes and components that make up the genome including the chromosomes and the chromatin.

“Understanding the biology of regulation of this level can actually give you tools to manipulate genetic expression,” he said.

After talking about some of his research, Ramos talked about the importance it can have to medicine and society.

“Cells can transition to different genetic stages, but all of (them) are stages that can be moderated and reversed,” he said. “If I’m managing a patient, maybe someday I might be able to manage that patient in the complete absence of biological knowledge, only with the basis of understanding the biology that is taking place.”

Ramos said he hopes it will bring about the “medicine of the future.”

Robyn Dexter can be reached at 581-2812 or redexter@eiu.edu.